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[H20fwler]

I'm just catching up on this. A 12" perch in a private pond is an awesome accomplishment! Odds are you've got some years to keep adding on inches too.

I wonder if you've got a healthy predator population keeping a lid on your panfish and perch? That would explain the 1% fish getting big like that.

We stocked it pretty hard the first year with fathead minnows and golden shiners, they bred like crazy. Still see clouds of fry.

We added 150 yellow perch 25 walleye and 100 red ear sunfish in year two, all around 3”-4”.
Then 50 four inch small mouth bass later that fall.

Now four years after digging the pond the fishing is REALLY good, minnow under a bobber and the kids catch a fish about every 15-20 seconds.
I hand feed pellets off the dock morning’s and evening’s during warm months when it isn’t windy.

Average walleye size around 13” perch 10” small mouth 10”, red ears are about the size of my hand but they don’t bite good at all. I only see the red ears in spring then they go deep.

Size records so far would be;
14” perch
15” walleye
12” smallie

Haven’t kept any fish for eating yet wanted them to spawn a few times before we started keeping any.
Everything has spawned good so far except for the walleyes and I don’t think they will in a pond…they are in there to keep the perch from overpopulating.

The perch are toads…kids call them jumbos

 

[SD51555]

That is outstanding. Have you seen reproduction in your smallmouth? I bet they are doing a bangup job keeping a lid on those little perch. A 14" perch is a trophy!

Have you run any fish traps to get a good look at your year classes?

 

[H20fwler]

That is outstanding. Have you seen reproduction in your smallmouth? I bet they are doing a bangup job keeping a lid on those little perch. A 14" perch is a trophy!

Have you run any fish traps to get a good look at your year classes?

Thanks
I see some smaller perch like 5” coming up to feed now and then mixed in with the big ones, and a few pretty small smallies 5” or so cruising the edge, also schools of little redears maybe 2” up in the shallows of the beach area.
None of that stuff gets caught while we fish, I think all of those were hatched in the pond

At night I go out with a flashlight and shine around the rocks and see little perch that are an inch and a half to a couple inches long laying on the stones sleeping in about a foot of water, during the day they must hide.

In spring for a couple weeks the big redears come up around edges of pond acting like they are in spawn mode. Also see perch egg ribbons in early spring. I’ve read that redears don’t spawn as crazy as bluegill so they shouldn’t overpopulate.

My wife was very specific about only having “shy” fish in the pond, didn’t want anything pecking swimmers. So that’s part of my reasoning for the fish we have. We swim a lot, and have friends and relatives that swim here all the time…haven’t had one fish even bump into anyone, they stay away from people in the water.
We actually swim in the pond way more than fish.
I’ll come home from work and my oldest sons mother in law and her sisters and nieces will all be on the beach and floating around, they love the pond and use it more than we do. I just leave a bunch of inflatable floaters in the back of my truck for them.

I also thought it would be cool to have a pond primarily for perch/smallies, we like eating perch and smallies are great fighters. I thought the walleye would stay deeper but they have been super easy to catch and the kids really enjoy them.
I think I read walleye can live for twenty years?

The redears (shell crackers) should help keep the pond clean and are supposed to get really big?
We will use crickets and worms on them when they get big enough to eat. And I think the big perch and walleye eat the small ones.

 

[SD51555]

You’ve done a phenomenal job on that pond. Having perch that take feed is huge too. That’s something that a few guys I know have tried and can’t get them to take.

Enjoy it fella. You’ve made a great resource there!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[H20fwler]

Kids were over tonight enjoying the pond (while I’m at work).
Pond gets a lot of swimmers this time of year, weekends are non stop.
And…notice the apple trees in the background, it is orchard #3.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

That's a really cool pond and those perch are awesome. It will be really cool to see what size those perch top out at and when you hit the carrying capacity when the growth slows down.

 

[Catscratch]

Wow, simply awesome! The fun and memories made at that pond will rival any deer hunt! Congrats!

 

[bwoods11]

Perch are as good as anything deep fried !!